


I'll See You In 40

by dillasapickle



Category: South Park
Genre: Courtroom Drama, Gay, Law School, Lawyers, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-01
Updated: 2019-11-06
Packaged: 2020-10-04 14:08:03
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,299
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20472296
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dillasapickle/pseuds/dillasapickle
Summary: Fresh out of law school and having just passed the bar exam, Kyle should be bright eyed and hopeful for the future. Instead, he's broke, tired, and fucking bored. Feeling like a puppet on a string that's controlled by his family, his father hires him at the Broflovski firm and puts Kyle to work immediately. Very little time goes by before he's put on an extremely heavy case that involves someone he thought he would never see nor hear from again, and is left no choice but to defend an enemy he spent his entire childhood fighting against.





	1. Locked Up On The Button

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter title is a lyric from "Buttercup" by Jack Stauber.

The moment he opened his eyes, he squinted them harshly shut just as fast, blinded by the bright light that lit up his room. 

"Rise and shine, kiddo," He heard his fathers voice say, slightly muffled by the thick comforter that was pulled over Kyle's head. "You don't want to be late on your first day." 

The redhead groaned from beneath the warm blankets he didn't want to leave. It sounded like it was the first day of kindergarten for Kyle Broflovski, but instead, he was a 24-year-old law school graduate who was starting his first day at his fathers firm. 

"I told you, dad. I had an alarm set. How the fuck did you get in anyway?" The redhead finally sat up, hair messier than usual after a night of tossing and turning. 

"Um, it's hell, and I found your key. Under the doormat? Really? It's like you want to get robbed." The old lawyer said, swiping dust off of his son's bookshelf and examining it with his finger. Gerald stood tall with great posture and carried himself about 10 years younger than he actually was. Despite this though, Kyle noticed the little hair he had left was becoming even grayer as the days went on. "Plus, I don't trust those damn phones," 

As soon as Gerald Broflovski finished his sentence, Kyle's phone came to life and started blaring out the star wars theme song. He held up his phone and pointed at it, smirking.

"Theres that alarm, old man." 

"Yeah, okay smart guy. Get up already, you're going to be late." 

"Late?" Kyle quirked his eyebrow in disbelief. "Dad, It's fucking 6 AM. I don't start until 9." 

"And?" 

"And? The firm is 10 minutes away!" 

"It doesn't hurt to be early, Kyle. Now get up. I've made you a pot of coffee." 

"A pot of coffee-- how long have you been here?" 

His father didn't answer and walked away, making the room quiet and causing Kyle's ears to ring intensely. He felt his heart in his throat while he rubbed the sleep from his eye. He couldn't believe this was happening all so quickly. One minute, he was in high school working his ass off to get here, next he was here wishing he could go back and start all over again. 

The floor was cold when he got out of bed and walked towards the closet. In fact, the entire room was freezing. 

"Dad?!" Kyle shouted. "Did you turn off the heat?" 

Gerald poked his head in after a few seconds past. "What?" 

"The heat, did you turn it off?" 

"Yes, of course I did. You might as well be burning a stack of cash with a lighter yourself leaving it on like that constantly." 

Kyle made a disgusted face. "Are you crazy? It's 20 degrees out. Turn it back on." 

"I raised you better than this, son." 

His father left once again and Kyle threw up his arms in frustration, silently screaming into his hand. This was going to be a long day.

\--

Kyle stepped into his living room where his father was observing a painting on the wall above his T.V. 

"So, what do you think?" 

Gerald turned around with a finger under his chin. "You're wearing that?" He asks, an odd expression on his wrinkled face.

Kyle scoffed. "Uh, yes? You picked this suit out for me!" 

"I know, I'm kidding!" He laughs. "Lighten up, jeesh. You're starting to sound like your mother."

He ignored the insult as he adjusted his tie and followed his father out the door. "Sorry, I'm just nervous." 

"I know you are, but you'll be fine! You come from a long line of extremley successful lawyers." 

"I know, I guess I just didn't expect to be thrown to the wolves like this so quickly," The young man admitted, pressing the elevator button and stepping in. 

"Well Kyle, my father did the same to me. As his father to him, and his father before him. There's no room for rethinking. If there was, I wouldn't have the life I have today. I would have never been a lawyer and me and your mother would have never met, as I would have already ran away to Venice at 18 with Julia Gablemann. She never shaved, y'know." 

"Ew, dad" 

He chewed his lip as those words replayed in his head over and over again. 'There's no room for rethinking,' and couldn't help but wonder if that was the mindset he wanted to have for the rest of his life.

\-- 

It was still an hour and a half before Kyle had to be at the firm, and if he took his own car and had a little independence this morning, he would have at least stopped for a decent coffee, but his father insisted on driving and showing up early to show him around and introduce him to his fellow coworkers. 

The building was tall and intimidating, with a large sign that read 'Broflovski & Associates' in white lettering. Kyle was rarely intimidated, but it just so happened that his entire future was going to be in that building. 

The redhead let out a breath he didn't realize he was holding and watched it dance around him in the unforgiving winter air of Denver. 

"Beautiful, isn't she?" Gerald said, stepping out of the driver's side of his 2015 Toyota Corolla. "Your great-great-grandfather built this baby from the foundation up all by himself with a-" 

"With a beer in his hand," Kyle finished. "Yes dad, I know." 

"Well, you ready then?" 

"Nope," he replied honestly. 

"Great, let's go!" His father clapped his hands together in excitement. 

This was wrong, he thought to himself. Fourteen year old him would be jumping for joy if he knew that Kyle would end up pulling this off, but that satisfaction and happiness of accomplishing something you've worked on for almost half of your life wasn't there, but rather a feeling of disquiet and self-doubt. 

Kyle barely noticed the beautiful interior of his father's building. The walls and floors were a shiny burgundy marble. Despite this though, all Kyle really noticed was the quietness and the ringing in his ears. They boarded the elevator and as they ascended, so did his anxiety. 

Gerald explained to his son, who wasn't really paying attention, that the second floor belonged to the first year associates, the third was the second year associates, and finally the fourth floor belonged to third-year associates along with the partners. 

"You'll be up on the third floor soon enough," Gerald spoke as if his son was disappointed he wouldn't have an office beside his father. "...and it won't be long after that until you're in my office, while I'm at home retired, one foot in the grave..." 

The elevator dinged as they reached the top floor.

"Good morning Mr. Broflovski! You're looking well!" A petite woman stood in the pathway of the father and son duo as they stepped off the elevator, looking as if she was waiting for them to arrive. She was grinning from ear to ear eerily, and Kyle couldnt help but notice that her eyes were slightly slanted upright due to the tightness of the blonde bun that stood tall atop her head.

"You must be Kyle!" She outstretched her arm for him to shake. "I'm your fathers assistant. Welcome aboard! I've heard so much about you, are you nervous?"

"A little," he admitted. 

"Well there's no need to be if you have half of the skill your father has then you'll be more than fine!"

"Oh, Elaine, you stop that. I take enough sugar in my coffee, this much sweetness and I'll go into diabetic shock." 

Kyle was thankful they walked ahead and had their backs turned so they couldn't see him visibly cringe from their exchange. His mother definitely wouldn't appreciate this weird office flirting they had going on. 

After showing Kyle around the third floor and introducing him to what Gerald described as his 'top lawyers' he was sent on his way to the second floor with a stack of paperwork he wasn't able to carry with one hand. 

\--

"You have to what?" Kenny blurted, mouth full of french fries. 

"I have to perform due diligence in legal matters like contracts, for example."

"The fuck does due diligence mean?"

"It means he has to do his research, idiot. Stop speaking with food in your mouth," Stan scolded him, swatting his hand away when the blonde reached for his fries after finishing his own in a matter of minutes. He turned to Kyle and smiled warmly. "That's really cool Kyle. I'm really proud of you, you're gonna do great."

"Thanks, I guess. I don't even know if this is what I want," He replied honestly, running a hand through his messy curly hair. The boy looked stressed, his jacket was thrown carelessly beside him on his side of the booth and his tie undone. 

"What do you mean dude? you've wanted this for as long as I can remember." 

"I know, but it just doesn't feel right. I feel like I should be more excited." 

"Kyle, look at me," Stan told him. Kyle looked up at his friends piercing blue eyes. Stan was extremley attractive to most people. He was 6'4 with a perfect facial structure, tousled raven hair and thick eyebrows. Despite his intimidating chiseled looks, he had a warm, inviting face that could comfort anybody. "Everyone has doubts about their life choices, but I know for a fact that you were born to do this dude. I've watched you fight for what you believe in my whole life."

"That's kind of what I'm worried about," he admitted. "What if I have to fight for something I don't believe in?" 

"Then make shit up," Kenny told him, shrugging. "Pretend like you believe in it. Fake it 'till you make it, or some shit." 

"Nice one, Ken. You outdid me with that advice. Really, you should become a motivational speaker," Stan said sarcastically, narrowing his eyes at the carefree boy. 

"Jeez Stan..." Kyle said.

"I'm sorry, I really am, but you try living with this nut job. He's driving me up the wall. He uses dish soap as body wash, Kyle. I feel like I'm gonna cry." 

Kenny smiled charmingly showing off his pearly white teeth. Kenny was also extremely attractive, but in totally different ways than Stan. He was average height, imperfect with dirty blonde hair that went a little past the bottoms of his ears. He had dark circles under his eyes and looked as though he hadn't slept for days. All the girls ate him right up and when he didnt have one hanging off of his arm, he was either busy fixing his piece of shit car he called his 'project' or smoking a cigarette. 

"At least you have an actual career. I'm stuck fixing cars for the rest of my life," Kenny laughed, but there was a hint of sadness to it. 

"At least you enjoy cars and shit. I fucking hate kids," Stan was a school counselor at South Park elementary, and Kyle remembered bringing him lunches everyday for the first week or so after he started, and having a wave of nostalgia hit him everytime he walked through those doors that seemed so big back then. 

"That's what you get for going to a school for no reason other than to be with your girlfriend. You got lucky though, not many people find jobs after majoring in fucking women and gender studies." 

"Ex-girlfriend," he corrected. "And keep your fucking voice down." 

"Hey everyone! This dude majored in women and gender studies!" A few dirty looks were shot Kenny's way for yelling and being obnoxious in a quiet diner at 8 o'clock at night.

"Fuck you, Kenny." 

"Cartman would get a fucking kick out of that, seriously." 

"Cartman, huh? Jeesh, I haven't heard that name in years. Wonder what he's doing these days." 

"Who cares," Kyle finally spoke, being lost in thought while his friends bantered in the background. "Probably 400 pounds and still living with his mom." 

Stan snorted. "Yeah, If she still feeds him the same shit she did when we were kids then I don't doubt that."

"Mhm. She did make some mean peanut butter cookies though," Kyle said with a satisfied smile as if remembering the very taste of the delicious goods. 

"True, She had a mean pair of hooters too." 

Stan scrunched up his face in disgust. "Yuck Kenny. She was like a second mom to you, you practically lived there." 

"Yeah, and? Do you even watch porn, Stan?" 

"I should probably get home, guys. My dads probably gonna give me another unnecessary 6 AM wake up call," Kyle stated sadly, checking his watch. The last thing he wanted to do was go home, he wished he had all the time in the world and could stay with his friends forever talking about nothing like the old days. Unfortunately, it wasn't the old days though, it was now. Now meant jobs, getting up early, rent, and adult priorities.

"Yeah we better get going too. Say hi to your dad for me," Stan pulled his shorter best friend into a bear hug and whispered in his ear. "I love you dude. You got this, okay? Call me if you need anything. I'm always here." 

Kyle squeezed back. "Thank you. I love you too." 

While Kyle was never one for affection, Stan was a total teddy bear and squished and squeezed his friends whenever he had the opportunity. His affection was especially apparent when he was drunk, and sometimes Kyle would even find him hugging strangers at parties. Usually, these strangers mistook his affection for creepiness, and while it was obviously slightly inappropriate he never meant any harm and just geniunley wanted to be loved, no matter who it was by. That was one thing about Stan that Kyle always found irritating and kind of pathetic. He needed to be loved by someone and needed someone to love as well. This intense craving Stan had for reassurance and comfort unfortunately almost always ended terribly, leaving him hurt for wearing his heart on his sleeve. 

Kyle would never forget the time in 10th grade when he found his friend lying unconscious in his room beside an empty bottle of advil after having his heart brutally broken by Wendy Testaburger for the millionth time. They were originally planning to go to the movies with Kenny and Cartman, and when Stan called to tell them he wasn't feeling up to it, Kyle got a weird feeling in his stomach that told him to go check up on his friend. 

Stan apologized sincerely over and over again when he was released from the hospital an agonizingly long time after the incident, and while Kyle forgives him, the memory hasn't really faded at all and still gives him nightmares even after all these years. 

"Bye honey bear, miss you already," Kenny said in an overly sweet voice, pulling him in a hug. They were about the same height so Kyle was thankful he didn't have to stand on his tippy toes this time.

"Yeah, whatever. I'll see you soon douchebag." 

Kyle missed the two immediately after getting into his car. He longed for their high school days when they all lived in the same area and goodbyes didn't exist. 

Kyle gripped the steering wheel tightly as he thought of his greatest fear; losing his best friends. They were the only people he ever truly loved, besides his parents and younger brother, and even they couldn't compete with those lovable dorks. They were there for him when no one else was, and for that, he would be forever grateful.

\-- 

Kyle walked in his apartment locking the door behind him and immediately rid himself of his clothes, stripping right down to his boxer shorts. He was thankful his dad listened to him and turned the heat back on before they left because nothing but warmth greeted his naked pale skin. His clothes left a trail all the way to his bedroom where he put an oversized shirt on and jumped into bed after plugging in his laptop. 

After picking a playlist that consisted of Gorillaz, Joji, and some various indie artists, he decided on mindlessly scrolling Facebook. There were some cute photos of Shibe dogs from a few shitposting pages he liked back when he actually used this stupid site, but other than that it was pretty uninteresting. There was Kenny complaining about how they took Bob's Burgers off of Netflix, and Stan changing his relationship status to 'it's complicated' which made Kyle huff to himself and roll his eyes. Token Black uploaded a photo of him and his girlfriend at some hockey game, Butters Stotch, whose name on there was actually Leopold Stotch, shared some stupid 'share this or your mom will die in her sleep tonight' post with the caption saying 'just to be safe!' with a few random emojis. Kyle made a mental note to maybe start checking up on that guy. They stopped talking a few months ago because Kyle couldn't stand keeping in touch with people that never left South Park. He felt as though he moved on from that part of himself, and anyone that didn't as well were best to be left behind. It felt selfish to him, but at the same time he couldn't understand how someone would want to stay in the same town they grew up in, let alone that crazy shithole. 

The Facebook scrolling went on for a while until other peoples lives bored him and he clicked on his own profile and looked at what other people saw when peeping his page. Usually spending most of his downtime on Twitter or Instagram, posts and photos were limited. They mostly consisted of old cringey memes he thought were funny at the time of posting them around 2010 or so. He grew bored and moved on to his tagged photos, which were a whole other story. Kyle did extremely well in college but that didn't mean he didn't do his fair share of partying. The entire screen was filled with embarrassing pictures of him either with a few people doing something humiliating like pretending to lick a friends face and being over-affectionate and obnoxious, or passed out in an awkward position with sharpie scribbles covering his face. He laughed as his eyes scanned the countless photos of red eyes staring at the camera while light flashed in drunken expressions. The further down he scrolled, the further he was taken back. There were pictures from high school and a long-winded post from his mother talking about how fast he grew up that included a picture of him in his graduation gown. Then there was one of all of them at grad, him, Kenny, Stan and... Cartman. One photo was a nice one of them smiling, and the second was the four of them holding up the middle finger. The third was weird, Kyle was sort of blurry and his facial expression was annoyed, looking as though he was shoving cartman probably because he said something ridiculous and problematic. Kyle bit his lip and clicked on Cartman's name out of curiosity. 

They were no longer friends, As he was one of the many people Kyle decided to leave behind in South Park and unfriended him after beginning his freshman year. Plus, it was Cartman for god sake, and Kyle wanted to get rid of and rise above those negative influences in his life and move onto new things. Not much has changed on his page since then, and he still had the same profile picture of a blurry version of the 'Jackass' logo with the iconic skull and crutches. He smiled slightly as he remembered Cartman's obsession with the ridiculously crude movies. He wasn't a fan personally, but sometimes found himself chuckling every so often when they would watch them at the fat boys house so many years ago. 

Cartman was never a selfie person, always covering the lens and getting frustrated when his mom told him to smile for the camera, so Kyle didn't expect any new photos of him or anything. There was nothing recent that he could see, except a few of his family members wishing him a happy birthday back in July of last year with no response. He tried to do some digging and even visited Liane's page to see if she had posted any photos of his childhood frenemy, but there was no luck as her public posts just consisted of shared recipes and old mom memes that made him let out a sound of disgust.

That was pretty much the last straw. Kyle decided to turn off his computer and pull the covers up to his face, letting his heavy eyes fall. Only a few minutes went by before the warmth and comfort he felt pulled him into a deep sleep he very much needed.


	2. Wrapped Around The Pole

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> damn i really just made one chapter and dipped huh lmaooooo im back now though!!! 
> 
> this story actually got a bigger response than i expected, i mean ik its not huge compared to other stories but its big to me so im super thankful. 
> 
> I made a playlist a long time ago for this story on spotify. Please listen if you wanna have the full uhhhhhhhh experience? lmao.  
I'll be updating again soon!!!! leave a comment if you liked it i enjoy reading them a lot!! <3 
> 
> https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4X70DPLJi5VD2MjEICe7Jv?si=VUpkjYvxS6GzpM4x6dJt5w
> 
> (im not sure about links in A03 but my username on spotify is saladass69 lolol the playlist is called i'll see you in 40)

_Kyle opened his eyes, noticing he was no longer in his apartment in Denver, but on his bed in his old room from back when he lived in South Park. A strange feeling that could only be described as nostalgia bubbled in his stomach as he analyzed his surroundings and realized everything was the same from when he was about 10, Terrance and Phillip posters covered the wall and his bed was neatly made beneath him with a green comforter. He looked down and realized that he was fully dressed in the suit he wore that day for work. Confused but not entirely frightened, he stood up, looking out the window and only seeing darkness. It was at this moment he realized he was dreaming because It was so dark his eyes could barely comprehend it. He rubbed them vigorously but it was no use, and that's when a bang on that very window startled him, a hand hitting the glass. He took a wary step back, thinking of all the terrifying and horrendous creatures his brain could muster up entering his space._

_The hand opened the window, and a few moments passed by before a young boy appeared and hoisted himself up with one arm while holding a grey cat in the other. He set the small creature on the floor of the room and stepped inside. It was... Cartman. A 10-year-old Cartman, bending over with his hands on his knees, out of breath from the small amount of exercise and effort it took to pull his fat little body up. After a few moments, he pulled himself together and stood straight, walking towards the bed._

_Kyle looked and saw that there was suddenly a lump under the blankets, rising and falling slowly._

_Young Cartman shook the lump gently. "Hey, wake up."_

_The lump stirred for a moment before sitting up. A messy mane of red hair appeared. The boy rubbed his eye, confused and half asleep from being woken up at an ungodly hour._

_"What the hell Cartman?!"_

_"Kahl, I need your help."_

_"It's like," He looked at the alarm clock on his bedside table. "3 AM! what could you possibly want?"_

_"I need you to take Mr. Kitty for me."_

_Mr. Kitty jumped on the bed, and young Kyle looked between the two for a few moments before letting out a noise of disgust and pulling the blankets over his head. "Go home, fatass."_

_"You don't understand, Kahl! I'm running away and need someone to take care of him."_

_"Take him with you!" The muffled voice said, extremely frustrated._

_"No way! The life ahead of me is going to be far too dangerous for a cat," Cartman smiled and patted Mr. Kitty. He meowed happily and purred in return._

_This night happened, Kyle remembers it almost perfectly. For once in his life, he felt sympathy for Cartman, remembering why the boy wanted to run away in the first place._

_A few months before, Liane started bringing men home every night and Cartman had begun to lose sleep from the noise. Their relationship became strained and you could tell the lack of sleep was draining the young boy because he rarely had the energy to start fights or bullshit at school._

_After a few moments, Kyle slowly lifted the blanket and emerged once again. His voice was quiet when he spoke, "Are you really running away?"_

_Cartman nodded._

_The redhead sighed, pressing his fingers to his freckled forehead, letting himself think for a few moments before finally saying, "I can't let you do that, idiot."_

_Kyle felt for his former self. All the bullshit Cartman put him through had aged him about another 10 years and was etched deep into his soul, changing him as a person forever._

_"Why not?"_

_"Because your mom would miss you, Kenny and Stan would miss you..." He trailed off, sighing. He shut his eyes tightly before continuing, "I would, uh, miss you."_

_Cartman stared mouth open in disbelief for a few moments before pulling it up into a wide grin. His laugh echoed throughout the room, it was so familiar even to this day._

_"You'd miss me~" He sang, mocking the other. "Ha! I knew it, Kahl! I knew you loved me. What are you, gay?"_

_Kyle jumped and tackled Cartman without hesitation, causing him to fall backward and sending them both tumbling off the bed. They rolled around like that for a while until his parents heard the commotion and walked in on their son beating his frenemy._

_\--_

"Hello? earth to Kyle?" Gerald said in a hushed tone, trying to get his son's attention. Kyle widened his eyes when his father finally came into focus, and he shook his head to try and bring himself out of this weird day dream-like state he had been in. It's been a whole month at the firm, and it was draining him, to say the least. Drowning in paperwork and never being able to spend time with friends may have been appealing to his middle-aged dad, but to Kyle it was hell, and he felt hopeless as it was only the beginning. He was supposed to do this bullshit for the rest of his life. Dark circles made a home underneath his green eyes, and Kyle swore that he saw a grey hair amongst his fire-red curls that morning.

He handed the file that Gerald was getting his attention for. "Ahem- I apologize, your honor. As I was saying.." 

This was the first case Gerald had asked him to sit in on. It was a family dispute case involving a 50 million dollar inheritance, and the woman they represented had cerebral palsy and claimed her mother had given her the least amount of money because of her disability. The opposing team had argued that she was going to die anyway and that there would be no point in giving her the money at all. It made Kyle slightly sick to his stomach, and he often found himself tuning out the arguments despite this being a good learning opportunity. His father noticed this the other day and scolded him, saying that this was a walk in the park compared to the number of murder and rape cases he had to deal with and that Kyle was gonna have to 'grow a pair' to make it in this business. 

Kyle hadn't noticed he was staring at their client's sister on the opposite side of the courtroom until they met eyes. She had been crying throughout the entire case, pulling out countless bunched up kleenex out of her pockets. He looked away quickly and bit his lip. 

It felt like forever until they left, and as soon as he stepped out of the courthouse he let out a sigh of relief, looking up at the cloudless sky.

"What's gotten into you lately, boy?" His father asked, appearing beside him and shielding his eyes from the sun. "Have you been like, snorting weed or whatever?"

_What the fuck does that even mean_, Kyle thought to himself but decided to keep his mouth shut rather than make a smart ass comment about the other man's age.

"No, dad, I haven't been doing drugs," It was true, the last time he touched anything of the sort was fucking college. "My mind is just elsewhere, I suppose."

"Well, when you have a minute will you invite it back here? we kind of need it. This is only your third week and you're already slacking. I got to say, I'm a little disappointed with your performance so far."

The young lawyer huffed and rolled his eyes, feeling like he was a teenager getting scolded for a bad mark on a test again. "Well sorry for being a little bit fucking miserable about the fact I can't have a fucking life outside of the firm."

Gerald frowned and took his son by the arm, bringing him around the corner of the building so they could be somewhere more private and out of the way.

"Are you not happy, Kyle?" He asked, dishearteningly. 

"No dad it's not that..." The boy trailed off, looking everywhere but in his father's sad eyes. "Well, maybe it is, I don't know." Gerald's wrinkles were so apparent for a reason, as he was always smiling and was a pretty happy man, for the most part, so seeing hurt written on his face was foreign and a little heart wrenching for the young boy. Maybe now wasn't the time to tell him that he wasn't feeling this job at all. "I probably just need more time to adjust..."

Gerald thought for a moment. "Maybe I expected a little too much from you, Kyle. For that I apologize, I'll try to be more understanding, but you have to start putting in the effort. Can you do that for me?" 

Kyle nodded, forcing a smile.

"Good. If you finish your work I'll see if I can get you the weekend off, but after that, there are no more breaks, got it? I can't save your butt forever."

"Okay dad, Thank you." 

They shared a brief hug and went their separate ways.

His father never was that good at reading him.

\--

Friday literally could not have come slower for Kyle. He had finished all of his work as his father told him and was just about to head out when someone knocked on his door. 

"Hey kiddo," It was Elaine, his father's assistant. She was wearing the same grey, boring businesswoman outfit she had on the first day they met. "Your dad wants me to tell you that you're good to go for the weekend and not get into any trouble. He also mentioned something about 'not snorting weed' or something like that."

Kyle chuckled. "Thanks, Elaine, I'll see you on Monday." 

He hadn't seen much of his father since their talk, the inheritance case got pretty ugly when their client's ex-husband got involved claiming he deserved money as well for taking care of his wife while she was sick. It was just as well though, Kyle didn't know if he could keep his misery in the shadows any longer and didn't trust himself to not say something he would regret. 

It was still pretty cold in the state of colorado despite it being late April. Frost still clung to windows and hugged the grass in the early mornings when Kyle got up for work. Despite the cold air being kind of annoying and inconvenient it was expected, Denver was as lifeless as ever and matched the greyness of the skies that hung above the city like a burden of despair that sucked up the energy and happiness of the people below. Kyle was never bubbly or happy go lucky in any way, but fuck did he have a fire within him, and it was hard to swallow a lit match every morning to keep the flame burning, but he would rather die then extinguish it and become a slave to the melancholy city he lived in. He knew deep within that he couldn't give up. He never gave up. He was raised and molded that way by his friends, family, and even the town he grew up in.

The redhead cursed as he slammed his car door and quickly started it with pale cold hands, making sure the heat was blasting.

He thought a lot about what Stan had said to him that night at the diner a few weeks ago. Stan looked at him and warmed his soul despite his eyes being made of ice. He always had a way with words, and often those words stuck with Kyle for a long time, this was no exception, but he couldn't help but wonder if he was somehow letting his best friend down. Was he really fighting for what he believed in by going down a path he didn't even know he wanted to walk? 

When he was finally warm enough to feel his hands, he reached to put the car in drive, but the beige folder that sat in the passenger seat beside him had caught his eye. His father had handed him that folder after they had their talk outside of the courthouse the other day. It was a file for the first murder case that Gerald had worked on when he became a lawyer. The victim was a 16-year-old girl that was had been raped and beaten to death and Gerald warned his sensitive son that it included gruesome details and even photos of the naked body. Kyle hadn't looked at it yet for that very reason, but morbid curiosity infested itself in his mind and he found himself staring at the folder and gritting his teeth in frustration. 

He wasn't always this sensitive to blood. Once he hit puberty his anger issues only grew stronger, especially with Cartman. Throughout High school, their arguments often ended in violence and Kenny and Stan had to physically pull the boys off of each other to get them to stop. There was never a day that went by where one of them didn't have a busted lip or bruised eye and it eventually just became a toxic cycle neither of them could get out of, until one day.

It started as one of their regular fights. Cartman had made a side comment about him to Kenny.

"Don't start Cartman," Kenny had suddenly said. The two were trailing behind Kyle and Stan as they were walking to Starks pond one afternoon to go fishing on Jimbo's boat he had let them use that day. He didn't catch what he had said, but he gritted his teeth and turned around to face him because he knew he must have made some smart-ass comment. 

"Care to share your thoughts with the rest of us, asshole?" 

He looked at Kyle with the same playful smirk he always gave him when he knew he had gotten under his skin. 

"I was just telling Kenny how beautiful of a couple you and Stan make." 

"Yeah of course you were, your small brain only has the capacity for two thoughts after all. Food, and dudes fucking."

"Guys, seriously, can we not do this today? this shit is getting so fucking old," Stan sighed, stuffing his hands in his pockets. 

"Oh, so you admit you guys fuck?! I knew it!" The husky teenager exclaimed excitedly. 

He took a step forward and prodded Cartman's chest with his finger. "You seem to have an obsession with people being gay. Are you trying to tell us something, fatass?" 

His chubby face fell, and that's when Kyle knew he struck a chord. It almost made him take a step back because Cartman had rarely made it apparent when something had affected him, but his pride and stubbornness just brought him a few inches closer to the boy that towered over him. Cartman was the tallest of the four, being at least 6'5" he was a fairly big guy but that never stopped nor intimidated the redhead. He may have been smaller but he was quick with his feet and his fists which made them equal opponents. 

This time, however, was different, something in Cartman had snapped and before he knew it Kyle was on the ground, nose bleeding, ears ringing, and vision blurred. 

"What the fuck?!" Stan yelled.

They had punched each other like this countless times before, but there was always some pushing and shoving before the real hitting started. There was just no warning this time around, and it happened so fast and hard that he didn't even remember seeing his fist coming at all.

Kenny bent down and grabbed Kyle's face. "You okay?" His voice was muffled but he read his lips and nodded his head despite obviously not being okay at all. He lifted his hand to his nose and was horrified to feel blood pouring from his face like a goddamn waterfall. It was most definitely broken and when he observed the blood was as black as tar, he passed out on the spot. 

ever since that day, Kyle couldn't stand blood. The smell, the texture, even the very sight of it made him faint and nauseous. He also suffered from frequent nosebleeds that came at the worst of times and there wasn't anything thing he could do except blame Cartman. 

As his slender finger skimmed the folder, he felt the very liquid he was all too familiar start to drip from his nose and trail down to the bottom of his chin slowly.

he set the folder down and leaned back against the seat, not bothering to wipe his face.

"Fuck you, Cartman," He whispered. 


End file.
